Just in time for Flashback Friday…..
What’s not to love about apple wood smoked bacon, brown sugared sweet potatoes, caramelized leeks and savory fresh herbs all in a big bowl of Sweet Potato Leek Soup? This recipe puts a healthy spin on your traditional Potato Leek soup by using protein rich sweet potatoes and adding in a little bacon for a nice smoky, salty, crunchy finish.
There is absolutely no cream required in this healthy sweet potato soup as the sweet potatoes become incredibly velvety when pureed. You get hints of brown sugar, cinnamon, sweet potatoes, caramelized leeks and bacon in every delicious bite.
This soup is seriously tasty in more ways than I can type. I am pretty sure nobody will believe you when you tell them this soup is low-fat, healthy, Weight Watcher’s Friendly and good for them.
Enjoy this soup as is or serve it up with a side of Crispy Brussels Sprout Chips.
SWEET POTATO LEEK SOUP WITH BACON (print it!)
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 slices center cut bacon, chopped
- 2 leeks,cleaned and sliced (white and light green parts only)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 medium sweet potatoes, (about 1 1?2 pounds), peeled and cubed
- 1 fresh thyme sprig or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 4 – 5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon, optional
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Heat a large soup pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove bacon and set aside.
2. In the same pan, add the leeks to the bacon grease and sauté until soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, crushed red pepper and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover, simmering for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
3. Remove from heat, discard the thyme spring and bay leaf. Puree in batches in a blender or use a submersion blender until smooth. Stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve soup with crumbled bacon pieces on top.
NOTE: To make this dish VEGAN, omit the bacon and use 1 Tbsp olive oil.
Makes 8 heaping 1 cup servings, 3 points+, 4 SmartPoints, 100% Simply Filling
Nutritional information per serving calculated at caloriecount.com
STEP – BY – STEP:
These beautiful, gigantic leeks came in this week’s Farm Fresh To You Organic Veggie box and I couldn’t wait to dive in and use them.
Leeks often contain sand in between their layers, but, do not fear using them. They are so easy to clean.. All you have to do is trim away most of the dark green tops and the roots, leaving the root end intact to hold the layers together. Slice the leek lengthwise to within a half inch of the root end. Hold the leek by the root end, fan open the layers, and rinse thoroughly under cold running water.
Slice away while your house fills up with the smell of the bacon bits cooking in the pan.
Brown the bacon in a large soup pan until brown and crispy.
Resist with everything you have to not eat all those homemade bacon bits because they will be your crunchy soup toppers.
Add the leeks to the same pan you cooked the bacon in making sure you leave the bacon grease as it adds that delicious bacon flavor IN the soup, not just on top with the bacon bits.
Peel and chop the potatoes while the leeks cook.
Add the potatoes, thyme, bay leaf, crushed red pepper flakes and broth to the pan.
Cover the mixture with broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.
Remove the soup from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Puree in batches in a blender or use a submersion blender until smooth. Stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve soup with crumbled bacon pieces on top. Another thought I had that would be tasty on top is those little “fried onions” or chives.
Night all!
OOH DO TELL ABOUT THE ROAD TRIP!
Im in to live vicariously 🙂
Have a great day off. Road trips are fun! Been missing your weekly menus. Did you get tired of doing them?
Hi Jane,
No, I promise I did not get tired of them or give up on them. It has been a busy few weeks as we get ready for vacation so I have just been cooking off of what we have on hand. I will get back into the swing of my weekly menus and meal plans after we return from Jamaica.
Thanks for asking,
Danica
That soup is definitely on my list of to do’s!
Road trip??? Have fun 🙂
Danica your soup looks amazing! I recently found frozen leeks at Trader Joes and they are cleaned and sliced ready to use. Enjoy your day off!
.
This soup looks amazing, will try it soon. Thanks for the explanation on how to clean leeks. Sounds much easier than what I usually do.
This looks so yummy and as it was 29 degrees on the patio this am, very timely too! Maybe you can help me out with a SF dilemma – I’m trying to find out if almond milk is considered SF or PP+? I know that soy milk is, but I try to avoid soy ’cause of my dance with breast cancer. Thanks for the info!
J
Hi Jeannette,
You know, I looked up Almond Milk on the Simply Filling list as well as e-tools and you are right, none of them show up as Simply Filling. In my opinion, if you were to get plain and unsweetened almond milk it would be very comparable to soy milk as a milk substitute. It is also incredibly low in points+ 1 cup = 1 points+. I would think this is something you can tweak and if you find you will not have it in excess and will not gain, then, you should be good to go.
Hope that helps a bit,
Danica
Thanks, Danica. I kinda looked at the almond milk in the same light. I’ve been using it for a long time as part of my PP count, but it’s my intention to give SF an honest try and to that end wanted another opinion – and I value yours for sure!
J
I just discovered your blog last night, and I must say, it’s BEST WW site I’ve seen. I’m a little over 6 months post-partum, and although I’ve lost all my pregnancy weight I was over weight to begin with (fourth child!) You are totally helping me to stay motivated, and I can honestly say, I haven’t read a blog so far that has. I made this soup tonight, and it was delicious! My sweet potato hating husband even liked it! Thank you!
Could you tell me if you have included the bacon in this recipe for simply filling?
I thought it wasn’t included…just a little confused
thanks
Danica
luv your sight and my husband is going to give this a try!!!!
Hi Dianna,
The bacon and brown sugar are included in the above recipe, however, when you add their points+ together, they amount to less than 1 points+/WPA allowance per serving. For any recipe that includes non-simply filling ingredients, you would just add up the total points+ (in this case 4 points+) and divide it by the total number of servings (4/8 = .5). Simply Filling + 0 WPA since you do not count half points. You could round up if you wanted to, but, I rounded down since you do not have all the bacon in a single serving.
Does that make sense?
Thanks,
Danica